Notre Dame football: Spond back on top

SOUTH BEND -- As the pain in his head reached intolerable proportions and the whole left side of his body went numb, Danny Spond wasn't thinking about whether he had set foot on the football field for the last time.

The Notre Dame junior linebacker was just hoping he'd be able to walk again.

The voices around him that early August afternoon speculated about a possible stroke or perhaps a connection to a serious concussion he suffered during his senior year at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

As Spond was raced from the Notre Dame practice fields to the hospital, his mind raced even faster, trying to get a grip on what caused his life to spiral into uncertainty.

"I was petrified," the 6-foot-2, 248-pounder said Wednesday. "I was relying on Christ quite a bit."

To this day, no one can tell him what triggered the monster migraines that kept him in the hospital for three days and short-circuited the motor skills on his left side for two of those days.

But ND team doctors and specialists at the University of Michigan have concocted a strong enough answer that Spond will be in the starting lineup when No. 11 Notre Dame (3-0) tries to extend its hottest start in 10 years Saturday night against No. 18 Michigan (2-1).

"You don't understand how much you miss something until it's gone," Spond said. "It's pretty cliché, but it's true. When you love something so much and it's your whole life and you work everything each day all year for it and it's taken away from you, it's tough.

"So when you finally get that chance to get back out there, it's everything to you."

Spond, with the help of a medication regimen, actually made his re-entry last Saturday night at East Lansing, Mich., in ND's 20-3 takedown of Michigan State. He collected four tackles in his first career start.

"I think once you make that decision to put the gear on and go back out to practice, you've handled it," ND head coach Brian Kelly said of Spond's road back. "And he pushed the envelope. He was the one who wanted to get out there."

Spond was able to leap over two surging young players, in sophomore Ben Councell and freshman Romeo Okwara, to get back to the top of the depth chart at drop linebacker, despite missing roughly a month of practice.

"I just started in the film room and getting interactive," Spond said. "Finally, when I was able to start working out a little bit, I would just train each and every day with that goal in my mind that my No. 1 goal is to be a starter here and I've just got to keep working for that.

"Just the love of the game is what got me through, quite honestly. The only question I ever had when it all happened was, 'Am I going to be safe enough to return?' "

Now the question is how high is his ceiling?

Spond came to Notre Dame as sort of a jack-of-all-trades. He was a standout high school quarterback, who also excelled at cornerback, punted for a 35.9-yard average and once nailed a 46-yard field goal as the team's kicker.

So naturally college scouts projected him as ... a linebacker.

Kelly had to wrestle him away from Colorado late in the recruiting cycle. Once he arrived at ND, Spond bounced between inside and outside linebacker but played mostly special teams.

A strong summer had him slightly ahead of Councell until the setback. But once Spond was cleared for practice a couple of weeks ago, he was impressive enough to jump back into a starting role.

"I was champing at the bit every second of every day," Spond said of his month as a bystander. "At the beginning, I was able to watch practice for a little bit, then I'd go home, just slowly working my way back into it. Inside I was dying, I was sick to my stomach. I just wanted to be out there so bad.

"It's all in God's plan. That's the plan I live by. Things happen for a reason. I don't know why, but I know I'll be all right in the end. I've got a good guy looking out for me upstairs. I just keep working each day and having Him on my side."

Playing catch-up

Irish freshman Chris Brown was part of one of the most impressive incomplete passes of the year Saturday night, one in which he blew by a Michigan State defender only to be overthrown by ND quarterback Everett Golson.

"He just continues to develop," Kelly said of the 6-foot-2, 172-pound wide receiver, who is still looking for his first career reception. "He's got elite speed. He can get behind anybody.

"There are a lot of things that go to playing that position -- his split, his alignment, who is he blocking on a particular play, what kind of release, all those things. We are going to live through Chris's development.

"But we know one thing, if we match him up one-on-one, you're going to have some favorable outcomes on our end, and it's just going to be a matter of time."

Squibs

-- Fifth-year senior safety Jamoris Slaughter underwent successful surgery Wednesday on his torn left Achilles tendon. He is expected to make a full recovery in six months.

Slaughter suffered the season-ending injury on the first play of the third quarter Saturday night against Michigan State.

-- Former Pittsburgh Steelers star Hines Ward and former Boston College Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Doug Flutie took in an ND football practice on Wednesday.

Both now work as analysts for NBC Sports. Flutie, in fact, will have an interview with Irish head coach Brian Kelly that will air Saturday.

-- According to ESPN, Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has 17 career touchdowns and 18 career interceptions on passes of 15 yards or more.